Here's my unsolicited advice on how you could've played differently/better since you are asking for advice.
1. On turn 3 you HP the neophyte instead of killing it with first flame, taking 6 additional unnecessary damage the following turns that said neophyte remains on the board and delaying completion of your quest. This forces you to use first and second flame on the 5/4 the next turn, leaving both neophytes alive. In your situation I would have used first flame to kill the first neophyte, then runed orb on the second neophyte and looked for removal or freeze for the 5/4. Doing things this way prevents you from taking unnecessary damage, is more mana efficient, and enables you to complete your quest more quickly.
2. On turn 5 you immediately use fire sale, which is suboptimal and does nothing to complete your quest. You've already played a fire spell at that point in the game and you still have runed orb in hand, you can easily use orb on the undamaged neophyte, look for frost spells (ideally brain freeze) to freeze the 3/4, and ping the 3/1 neophyte. Once again, this play is more mana efficient, completes your quest, and is just as effective if not even more so with regard to dealing with your opponents board. These are criteria that you should consider before you immediately play a card like fire sale. You should never play a card immediately unless you are completely sure that doing so is optimal.
3. On turn 6 you immediately ping the 3/1 when the first thing you should be doing is using runed orb (which should have played multiple times already) to look for spell removal that contributes to quest completion, preferably on zixor since you can always ping the 3/1 later. Choosing to use orb after pinging and ignite with your last 2 mana is a very poor decision in that it gives you no opportunity to play any card that you might discover. Also, the 1/1 is the wrong target for it: you should target the zixor to make it easier to remove. Taking 1 damage isn't going to lose you the game and you can always remove that 1/1 with your HP next turn if need be.
4. On turn 7 you choose to play arcane intellect over refreshing spring water, which frankly doesn't make any sense. You lose 3 mana as opposed to 1 to draw the same 2 cards and you do not corrupt ring toss, which you could've played and ideally found ice barrier and ice block. The game is unrecoverable after this decision.
So there are certainly improvements that could be made with regard to decision making. I think it would be helpful for you to try to prioritize and consider quick quest completion, mana efficiency, and optimal removal when you are deciding which cards to play. In this vein, I would recommend that you take more time to consider what the best play is before you do anything. Some of these misplays are likely attributable to you making a decision before you've had time to really think about better options or even what other plays you could make. Hopefully this advice was constructive, best of luck man.
I should also mention that sometimes you will face mirror matches or matches where the opponent is not playing minions. In these events you should use Primordial Studies to create minions that you can target to progress your quest. If you find that you really just need more minions for either this purpose or to just run interference, you can swap a Primordial Studies with a Font of Power.
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"Speculation is foolish when the tools of certainty are available." —Cinna, Vedalken Consul
Vicious Syndicate stated many times that Quest Mage is a bad deck overall, usually struggling to keep an 50% winrate. You have a lower winrate, and as I can see you got some advice how to improve your winrate.
But the mai issue is still that you invested a ton of dust in a suboptimal deck. Anyways, try to enjoy it, there are lots of favorable matchups out there.
From watching your video i think one of the biggest takeaways is that the first step of the quest was not completed within a 7-turn game. When piloted correctly, it is extremely common to see a Quest Mage finish the entire questline by turn 7 or 6. What you need to consider every turn isn’t necessarily what the “best” play would be, but more so how you can finish the current step of your quest at all costs without losing the game outright. You will even see mages kill or freeze their own minions if there’s nothing to target on board because quest completion is that essential to their strategy. I would study what people above me commented regarding your plays and also watch high level streamers play the deck and try to gain an understanding of what choices they’re making in comparison to yours.
You got some good advice above. I'll add that you didn't draw or discover very well in this game, so that's something to keep in mind as some variance, nor was your starting hand that great. I mean your mulligan was fine, but you weren't rewarded with that good of a hand.
Turn 2 is the wrong choice. The ice secret is better, noting that it's not like the ice secret is good. Just a bad discover draw all around.
Turn 3 is game losing, especially against Face Hunter. You likely would have lost this game anyway even with perfect play (and that happens, so you have to be OK with it), but this play guarantees a loss. Quest progression + immediate removal is always better than a fancy next turn set-up that can (and did) go wrong.
I encourage uploading a couple more though. It's so hard to give advice on your trends on just one game, though you did get some good advice.
Isn't it closer to the truth that at one time it was optimal and people have since found ways to combat it? 50% win rate at "top" legend. From VS
Quest Mage’s win rate looks much better than it did before the patch, and that should be a concern for those interested in seeing it decline in play and free up some late-game strategies. We will note that its win rate declines as you climb ladder and it’s barely at the 50% mark at top legend. Some of its matchups are getting worse over time too and some of the “free food” matchups are in decline. Seeing that, we initially expected it to quickly drop to Tier 3.
I just saw it was the most popular deck being played in Legend. Just curious, what should I have blown my dust on...taunt druid? Hand lock?
I will say to those asserting that it would've been better to take oasis ally on turn 2, I don't think that it's actually the right play in this match. Bushido already needs to actively play removal by turn 3 and oasis ally effectively does nothing for him other than move him one step closer to quest completion at a juncture where he needs to focus on the board: it is essentially a dead card. The ring toss is better bc it potentially buys him time and even saves the game down the line (provided he gets ice block off it), and it is entirely possible that he draws or discovers a cheap frost spell that is far better to play than oasis ally anyway. As it was, I really don't think Bushido can afford to simply ignore the board just to play an ultimately valueless secret that does nothing other than move his quest forward when what he really needs to do in this match is stay alive.
Btw i don’t think this whole win rate conversation is very useful to you since the win rates in question are most definitely not referring to the bronze, silver, or gold brackets. If you play this deck properly, you should be able to climb through silver and gold and maybe start getting stuck in platinum which is where your opponents’ skill levels are really gonna start to ramp up. If you’re asking what you might have had an easier time climbing with, then the answer would be something brainless like aggro druid/hunter etc. But you don’t need to run those decks to get out of the rank you’re at now
this makes me really sad, people teaching how to play degenerate/cancerous mage quest, the most annoying deck ever printed, go play solitaire if you dont want to interact with your opponent...
this makes me really sad, people teaching how to play degenerate/cancerous mage quest, the most annoying deck ever printed, go play solitaire if you dont want to interact with your opponent...
I admit that quest mage is annoying but earlier in the thread the OP said he spent a lot of his dust trying to craft it. I’m not sure if he has the resources to give up and build another deck. I think it’s a good thing that other commenters were willing to give him some constructive criticism instead of saying his deck was trash tbh
It's a simple matter... as decent human beings, we help someone else, specially if looks in trouble, and mostly because it's in our nature. We're social creatures, we cooperate, we help our fellow people. And in the very end, it's good to treat people like we would like to be treated.
Now sensitive comment out, back to the Norscan cave with me.
You guys are really incredible here, thanks for all the constructive comments. Think I just got to the quest mage party late. Vicious Syndicate just made it sound like the deck was still viable to get to Legend. I've gone from 40% to 50%. Think part of the problem was focusing on removing minions before finishing quest. Now I realize I can go from being down 30-15 and come back with a vengeance. Hope everyone is chill...
Here's what I do: watch some pro players on YT and pause before each move they make. Consider what cards you would play and in which order and press play to see what they'd done. They are not perfect players and they make mistakes (which they more often that not realise and say out loud that they misplayed) but in most cases they play correctly so this is how you can learn and recognise when you should be greedy and when you should be playing your hand and how. These differences will tell you a lot about what kind of player you are, what are your tendencies, and what you need to do to become a little bit more like them. You will learn a ton quickly without much investment.
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And your Poison Rouge gets eaten by the rest of the ladder
I'll study your response like I was studying for the Bar Exam...thanks so much, solid advice, just what I was looking for...
Here's my unsolicited advice on how you could've played differently/better since you are asking for advice.
1. On turn 3 you HP the neophyte instead of killing it with first flame, taking 6 additional unnecessary damage the following turns that said neophyte remains on the board and delaying completion of your quest. This forces you to use first and second flame on the 5/4 the next turn, leaving both neophytes alive. In your situation I would have used first flame to kill the first neophyte, then runed orb on the second neophyte and looked for removal or freeze for the 5/4. Doing things this way prevents you from taking unnecessary damage, is more mana efficient, and enables you to complete your quest more quickly.
2. On turn 5 you immediately use fire sale, which is suboptimal and does nothing to complete your quest. You've already played a fire spell at that point in the game and you still have runed orb in hand, you can easily use orb on the undamaged neophyte, look for frost spells (ideally brain freeze) to freeze the 3/4, and ping the 3/1 neophyte. Once again, this play is more mana efficient, completes your quest, and is just as effective if not even more so with regard to dealing with your opponents board. These are criteria that you should consider before you immediately play a card like fire sale. You should never play a card immediately unless you are completely sure that doing so is optimal.
3. On turn 6 you immediately ping the 3/1 when the first thing you should be doing is using runed orb (which should have played multiple times already) to look for spell removal that contributes to quest completion, preferably on zixor since you can always ping the 3/1 later. Choosing to use orb after pinging and ignite with your last 2 mana is a very poor decision in that it gives you no opportunity to play any card that you might discover. Also, the 1/1 is the wrong target for it: you should target the zixor to make it easier to remove. Taking 1 damage isn't going to lose you the game and you can always remove that 1/1 with your HP next turn if need be.
4. On turn 7 you choose to play arcane intellect over refreshing spring water, which frankly doesn't make any sense. You lose 3 mana as opposed to 1 to draw the same 2 cards and you do not corrupt ring toss, which you could've played and ideally found ice barrier and ice block. The game is unrecoverable after this decision.
So there are certainly improvements that could be made with regard to decision making. I think it would be helpful for you to try to prioritize and consider quick quest completion, mana efficiency, and optimal removal when you are deciding which cards to play. In this vein, I would recommend that you take more time to consider what the best play is before you do anything. Some of these misplays are likely attributable to you making a decision before you've had time to really think about better options or even what other plays you could make. Hopefully this advice was constructive, best of luck man.
I should also mention that sometimes you will face mirror matches or matches where the opponent is not playing minions. In these events you should use Primordial Studies to create minions that you can target to progress your quest. If you find that you really just need more minions for either this purpose or to just run interference, you can swap a Primordial Studies with a Font of Power.
"Speculation is foolish when the tools of certainty are available." —Cinna, Vedalken Consul
If you find a lot of Mutanus also pick Font of Power rather than Primordial Studies. Plus, you may find surprises like Antonidas.
Click to see my Hearthstone projects:
gr8 b8 m8 8/8
Vicious Syndicate stated many times that Quest Mage is a bad deck overall, usually struggling to keep an 50% winrate. You have a lower winrate, and as I can see you got some advice how to improve your winrate.
But the mai issue is still that you invested a ton of dust in a suboptimal deck. Anyways, try to enjoy it, there are lots of favorable matchups out there.
From watching your video i think one of the biggest takeaways is that the first step of the quest was not completed within a 7-turn game. When piloted correctly, it is extremely common to see a Quest Mage finish the entire questline by turn 7 or 6. What you need to consider every turn isn’t necessarily what the “best” play would be, but more so how you can finish the current step of your quest at all costs without losing the game outright. You will even see mages kill or freeze their own minions if there’s nothing to target on board because quest completion is that essential to their strategy. I would study what people above me commented regarding your plays and also watch high level streamers play the deck and try to gain an understanding of what choices they’re making in comparison to yours.
You got some good advice above. I'll add that you didn't draw or discover very well in this game, so that's something to keep in mind as some variance, nor was your starting hand that great. I mean your mulligan was fine, but you weren't rewarded with that good of a hand.
Turn 2 is the wrong choice. The ice secret is better, noting that it's not like the ice secret is good. Just a bad discover draw all around.
Turn 3 is game losing, especially against Face Hunter. You likely would have lost this game anyway even with perfect play (and that happens, so you have to be OK with it), but this play guarantees a loss. Quest progression + immediate removal is always better than a fancy next turn set-up that can (and did) go wrong.
I encourage uploading a couple more though. It's so hard to give advice on your trends on just one game, though you did get some good advice.
Isn't it closer to the truth that at one time it was optimal and people have since found ways to combat it? 50% win rate at "top" legend. From VS
I just saw it was the most popular deck being played in Legend. Just curious, what should I have blown my dust on...taunt druid? Hand lock?
I will say to those asserting that it would've been better to take oasis ally on turn 2, I don't think that it's actually the right play in this match. Bushido already needs to actively play removal by turn 3 and oasis ally effectively does nothing for him other than move him one step closer to quest completion at a juncture where he needs to focus on the board: it is essentially a dead card. The ring toss is better bc it potentially buys him time and even saves the game down the line (provided he gets ice block off it), and it is entirely possible that he draws or discovers a cheap frost spell that is far better to play than oasis ally anyway. As it was, I really don't think Bushido can afford to simply ignore the board just to play an ultimately valueless secret that does nothing other than move his quest forward when what he really needs to do in this match is stay alive.
Btw i don’t think this whole win rate conversation is very useful to you since the win rates in question are most definitely not referring to the bronze, silver, or gold brackets. If you play this deck properly, you should be able to climb through silver and gold and maybe start getting stuck in platinum which is where your opponents’ skill levels are really gonna start to ramp up. If you’re asking what you might have had an easier time climbing with, then the answer would be something brainless like aggro druid/hunter etc. But you don’t need to run those decks to get out of the rank you’re at now
Thank you
this makes me really sad, people teaching how to play degenerate/cancerous mage quest, the most annoying deck ever printed, go play solitaire if you dont want to interact with your opponent...
I'm not even sure what this means, hell no I don't want to interact with my opponent, I social distanced before it was cool...
I admit that quest mage is annoying but earlier in the thread the OP said he spent a lot of his dust trying to craft it. I’m not sure if he has the resources to give up and build another deck. I think it’s a good thing that other commenters were willing to give him some constructive criticism instead of saying his deck was trash tbh
That’s blizzards matchmaking for you… enjoy spending your dust and being matched against the counter decks.
#itsallrandom
It's a simple matter... as decent human beings, we help someone else, specially if looks in trouble, and mostly because it's in our nature. We're social creatures, we cooperate, we help our fellow people. And in the very end, it's good to treat people like we would like to be treated.
Now sensitive comment out, back to the Norscan cave with me.
Click to see my Hearthstone projects:
You guys are really incredible here, thanks for all the constructive comments. Think I just got to the quest mage party late. Vicious Syndicate just made it sound like the deck was still viable to get to Legend. I've gone from 40% to 50%. Think part of the problem was focusing on removing minions before finishing quest. Now I realize I can go from being down 30-15 and come back with a vengeance. Hope everyone is chill...
Here's what I do: watch some pro players on YT and pause before each move they make. Consider what cards you would play and in which order and press play to see what they'd done. They are not perfect players and they make mistakes (which they more often that not realise and say out loud that they misplayed) but in most cases they play correctly so this is how you can learn and recognise when you should be greedy and when you should be playing your hand and how. These differences will tell you a lot about what kind of player you are, what are your tendencies, and what you need to do to become a little bit more like them. You will learn a ton quickly without much investment.